1998 Jensen History

What a better way to start off a new year than with a brand new bouncing baby boy!  Jase Rick Jensen was blessed by his dad during our Christmas vacation in Salt Lake. He is a good-natured little boy with a big mouthy smile and is such a blessing to our family. Unlike his petite older sister, Jase is as solid as they come – he even grunts and growls.

Shortly after the new year began, we got called to serve in the Deaf Branch full-time. Rick and I were called to be Sunday School teachers and we traded off teaching every other week. Rick led the music in ASL and I played the piano for Sacrament meeting. We also served as interpreters for the Branch. I continued to teach ASL at Dixie College and also had the opportunity to teach interpreter training for the Southern Utah area. 

We spent Spring Break with family and Janika was able to go on several different Easter Egg Hunts! She also got to spend some time with her cousin, Landon! 

During our break Rick kidnapped me for my 30^th birthday. He blind-folded me and had me put on a shirt that said, "Congratulate me, I'm 30!!" He then took me around to various stores. I didn’t know what I was wearing of course. He took lots of pictures and I heard several funny comments! We ended up at “The Anniversary Inn” for a romantic get-away while the kids stayed with their Grandma and Grandpa Jensen. It was fun and I thought it was neat that he would plan a special outing for us! Jase seemed to do fine his first night away from us. A few weeks later we took our kids with us on a mini-vacation to Mesquite with our friends Curtis and Steph and their little boy, Brandon.  It was pretty hectic with all our kids along but we still had fun and everyone commented on how cute our kids were. 

We were able to save our money and finish our back yard.  Now Janika can ride her “bike” on a big patio and the kids can play in the sand-box and on the tramp. We put the tramp in the ground so that it is safer and more kid friendly. We put in lots of sod and are trying our hand at gardening. We are hoping to have better luck in the gardening area next year! Janika and Jase both love to jump (and crawl) on the tramp. They also both love music. We wrote in more detail about the kids in their own histories. 

 

The summer kept us busy with vacations and traveling. Rick went to his first Professional Development Program (PDP) training in Idaho for a week while the kids and I stayed with our families in SLC. While he crammed in learning, we crammed in time with family and loved every minute of it.  
       Rick and I went on a church history tour to help Rick prepare for teaching church history and Doctrine and Covenants in Seminary this year. We traveled through Independence Missouri, Nauvoo, and the Pioneer Trail. We loved the experience and learned so much as we felt the powerful spirit that emanated from places where so much has happened and will yet happen. The kids did really well staying at Grandma and Grandpa Jensen’s house and loved their vacation there.

We came up north again shortly after this trip to go to the BYU Symposium and then again during UEA where we went to the Jensen’s big annual Halloween party.  Janika was a black kitty cat and Jase was Bam Bam, from The Flintstones. In October, we ended up going back to our regular ward in Ivins. Rick was called to be the gospel doctrine teacher again and I was called to be the First counselor in the Young Women’s Presidency. We were both excited about our new callings. It felt good to get involved in our ward again and finally get to know our neighbors and ward members better. 

We also enjoyed our stay with family over Thanksgiving and said farewell to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen as they left on a Caribbean Cruise. Rick set up our computer and our families’ computer on a chat system so we can “chat” over the Internet anytime we are both on-line. So we still feel like we are a part of the family even though we live far away.

Rick started teaching some Internet classes for Infowest and they were well attended. He enjoyed the variety of teaching and the perks that came with it. Rick also also began working on his Master’s Degree at SUU through the Dixie Extension. He is looking into a degree in Education with an emphasis in music. Fall semester I taught a beginning ASL class at Dixie College during the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I traded baby-sitting with our neighbor while she taught kindergarten in the morning and then I taught my class in the afternoon. In December we celebrated the kids' birthdays! Janika turned 3 and Jase turned 1. 

We had a wonderful Christmas at our home and Rick surprised me with a big freezer for our garage! We gave Janika a little table and chairs and tea set and Jase finally has some trucks to push around. We feel so grateful to our Heavenly Father for blessing us so abundantly and hope we can live worthy of being given so much!